


Jethro is Fine

by penumbria



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Hurt Tony DiNozzo, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:59:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penumbria/pseuds/penumbria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gibbs is back from Mexico. But should he be? Tony wonders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jethro is Fine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hinky_Hippo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinky_Hippo/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I make no money from this.
> 
> This is a part of the 2015 NCIS Fic-a-Thon. To avoid spoilers, the prompt I used is in the end note.
> 
> Thanks to my beta Cait Seventeen.
> 
> Banner art is by me.

_ _

 

_I recommend getting unused to being in charge before Gibbs decides to kill you._

I suppose it was good advice. I mean, she was being sarcastic. At least, I thought so at the time. But maybe she saw it. Maybe she could tell that he was resenting me. He handed the team over to me. Yeah. He retired as far as he knew. Yeah. He was living the good life on a Mexican beach pickling his liver with Franks. Then people started dragging him back. I get Fornell. I mean, he and I aren’t exactly bosom buddies.

Bosom Buddies. Awesome show. Hilarious. Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari dressing in drag to get a cheap apartment that is women only. Weird premise. Seems like it would be illegal. Not them dressing in drag but the restriction on the apartment. Like, discrimination or something but hey, sitcoms aren’t always grounded in reality. Or, well, are never grounded in reality. That’s why they have scripts. But, still, the two of them had great comedic timing and the writers gave them comedy gold to work from.

What ever happened to writers like that? They don’t make TV shows like that anymore. Now sitcoms are all fart jokes and the lowest of slapstick, which has its place, don’t get me wrong. But comedy can be so much more than the lowest common denominator.

Where was I? Oh, right, Gibbs came back because Fornell needed help to keep his kid safe. That’s cool. I can get that. Emily’s cool. She’s a sweetie. And in a sense, she’s related to Gibbs. I mean, she is his ex-wife’s daughter with her new husband who she left Gibbs for and then later divorced, too. And now Gibbs and Fornell are like freaky close sometimes, so calling Gibbs in on that case, yeah. Sure, no hard feelings.

But before that, the first time he came back. That was different. That was one of my team not trusting me. Not believing that I could or would help her. Ziva was in deep trouble and she called Gibbs rather than me. I mean, it isn’t like she wasn’t showing that she was resenting me and stuff before that. She didn’t like me leading the team but it was getting better. We were hanging out every week, watching movies, talking, just being friends. But when the shit hit the fan, I wasn’t good enough for her. She didn’t want my help. She claimed she didn’t want to get me in trouble but I’m pretty sure the truth was that she didn’t think I was capable of helping her. So, she called in the cavalry and in rode the mustached wonder. Until he rode out again.

_I think it's the mustache... lulling us into a false sense of security._

He fixed the problem and he left. No regrets, no looking back. Then he came again when he was needed. Then he came back for good. Just dumped me back to where he felt I belonged. I don’t know, I still can’t get my mind around his thought process there. It was a deliberately humiliating move. What he did, the way he did it. There was no ... he _wanted_ to hurt me. To make it clear that I wasn’t him and never could be. He was the boss again and I was his bitch. Metaphorically. His loyal Saint Bernard. Comes back no matter how many times he’s kicked.

But I got used to being in charge. Other people got used to me being in charge. Okay, so not Ziva or McGee. Or Abby. Or Ducky. But other people. They got used to me being the go to guy for the MCRT. And so did I. But then Gibbs was back and everything was just supposed to magically reset itself to months before. Before he got his ass blown to kingdom come and his brain swiss cheesed by that terrorist’s bomb. When he knew my name and our history. When he could keep the team straight.

_His memory is still screwed up. He called Ziva 'Kate' yesterday._

And Jenny. She’s great. She’s really been supportive this whole time. And I needed that. Someone to be there for me. The team wasn’t. But she was. Not sexually, no matter what Gibbs thinks of the fact that she lets me use her first name. Granted, she’s hot and there was a time when I wouldn’t have turned her down. Not that she offered. She isn’t like that. But his view is skewed by whatever happened between them when they worked together and knocked boots. Not sure if she’s the reason for Rule 12 or if he broke it with her. Doesn't really matter. The point is Jenny is a friend. And I needed a friend the last few months.

_Jenny. Just ah... how cozy did you two get while I was away?_

But she has a huge blind spot when it comes to Gibbs. It probably has to so with that mysterious history of theirs but still, it isn’t a good thing when she’s the Big Boss and he’s her subordinate. She can’t put her personal feelings completely aside for him. Whether it is mixing in with our cases back when she first made Director. Or not filing his retirement paperwork and instead putting in his sick days and vacation, hoping he would come back full time. And sure, she read that one right. But she just let him slide into place again like he hadn’t gotten blown up and forgotten over a decade of his life.

_Jethro is fine._

It hurt that she just let him dump my stuff like he did. That she didn’t give me a warning or a heads up. And he really should have had to go to therapy or at least evaluations. For his memory and his aim and his instincts. Okay, Gibbs’ gut is legendary but he’s more than that. Or, he used to be. And now, he’s different. And it isn’t all good. It isn’t just him being nice. I get that my reaction to his change in demeanor is my issue, not his, or not completely his issue. But still. His reactions are off. And more than in his behavior to the team and the mellowness that came with his new facial hair.

_Then how do you explain that thing on his upper lip?_

At least, I hope it was accidental. Or, you know some kind of cognitive issue and not that he deliberately decided to - I mean, I know I’m annoying and I flirt too much and I talk too much and I joke too much and I have insecurities and my Daddy issues have issues but I mean, Ziva was being sarcastic. Gibbs didn’t deliberately try to kill me. He just didn’t realize the car was in reverse when he slammed on the gas to peel out like he always does. He forgot.

Right? He didn’t deliberately hit me with the rear of the car. If Gibbs wanted me dead he wouldn’t use such an imprecise weapon. He’d use his hand-to-hand and snap my neck or his sniping skills and put one right between the eyes (Kate) or in the heart. He wouldn’t back into me with the car. I mean, there was no guarantee that would kill me. And it didn’t. I’m not dead. I have a concussion. And a few broken bones from the impact and the being thrown by it into a wall but it didn’t kill me.

But - I won’t be back at work even on desk duty for while. So, I mean, he’ll have time to get people to forget me being in charge and get his hands back on the reins completely without my interference. That’s - Gibbs wouldn’t - no, it’s the pills. I always get loopy when I’m on the good stuff and after the surgery to fix my leg, fix the torn ligaments in my knee, I need the good stuff and it’s making me say crazy stuff. Just making me paranoid, Jimmy. Gibbs is Gibbs. He’s one of the good guys. He just made a mistake. He forgot. His mind, his memory isn’t all there and no one calls him on it. No one who can make him do something about it anyway. I’ll be back at work before you know it and catching the bad guys and helping Gibbs like always.

_Well, I've been hit harder, Boss. By you._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the prompt: Gibbs' bad driving finally catches up to the team (Tony hurt).
> 
> I will NOT be writing a sequel to this, so don't ask.


End file.
